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Paper short abstract

This study analyzes interviews (n=15) and social media to trace how Chinese migrants in France navigate pelvic exams. While clinician empathy eases pain, fragmented administration causes friction. I argue screening is a moral practice, urging "screening otherwise" via user-centric pathways.

Paper long abstract

This paper examines cervical screening (Pap smears and HPV tests) as a socio-technical testing practice, asking how Chinese migrant women in France navigate, postpone, or avoid testing. In France, screening is organised as routine prevention through reminders, reimbursement rules, and platforms such as Doctolib. For many women from mainland China, it is a first encounter with the vaginal exam and the speculum; expectations are shaped in advance by family stories, peer advice, and Xiaohongshu, a Chinese social media platform.

Based on ongoing fieldwork in Paris (15 semi-structured interviews with Chinese migrant women aged 18–40) and a Xiaohongshu corpus (≈50 posts collected via keyword searches), I trace narratives from deciding to book to the exam and results. Trust is not simply the absence of pain: when clinicians explain each step and make it clear that patients can pause or stop, discomfort becomes easier to name and manage. Yet the administrative chain of prevention, characterized by unclear costs, automated follow-up, fragmented information, and long waits, can also feel cold and stressful.

Faced with these frictions, women develop strategies: requesting a female clinician, relying on “how-to” knowledge, and seeking Chinese-language resources. By foregrounding hesitation and refusal, I argue that screening is a moral practice that makes migrant bodies into evaluable risks while inviting women to become “responsible” subjects of prevention. I close by discussing what “screening otherwise” could mean from users’ points of view: clearer explanations, more accessible pathways, and clinic routines that reduce the work of navigating prevention.